Miami-Dade Community College issued the following news release:
The Florida Board of Education has unanimously approved today Miami Dade College's request to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
'We are extremely pleased and excited about this new degree opportunity for our students and the residents of our region so they may achieve their career goals in nursing where such a critical shortage of trained professionals exists,' said Dr. Eduardo J. Padr�n, president of Miami Dade College. 'Nursing and the health care industry as a whole offer tremendous career placement and growth opportunities. This milestone is yet another example of MDC responding to the workforce needs of the dynamic community it serves.'
The BSN program, which will commence in spring 2008, offers the community, MDC students, and its graduates new opportunities to contribute to the nation's health care system. Its primary goal is to provide students and practicing nurses with a high quality, accessible, cost-effective, and seamless academic program designed to meet the critical workforce need for baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the State of Florida. The program is intended to provide increased opportunities for:
1) Professional registered nurses (RNs) who are graduates of associate degree nursing programs to matriculate into a baccalaureate degree program in the same environment where they have experienced academic success.
2) An affordable baccalaureate degree for RNs from under-represented groups and low-income families who cannot afford high tuition costs.
3) Students in need of flexible scheduling of courses including days, evenings, and weekends.
4) Working/practicing nurses who may wish to pursue a baccalaureate degree as the first step toward advanced degrees.
5) Nurses from minority groups to enhance their career options by acquiring additional competencies needed to meet the increasingly complex demands of contemporary professional nursing practice.
6) Preparing more culturally diverse nurses at the baccalaureate level.
'The BSN is all about providing our students with the very best educational experience that will allow them to expeditiously take key positions in nursing and related fields,' added Dr. K. K. Bentil, president of the Medical Center Campus where the program will be based, but with convenient courses at most MDC campuses.
The new MDC BSN program comes at a good time. Local BSN programs are oversubscribed. For example, in Southeast Florida, 60% of applicants who apply to programs are not admitted because the existing programs are at capacity. Moreover, 81% of current students surveyed ranked Miami Dade College as their first choice of schools to complete the RN-BSN degree. And, 90% of these students indicated they actually plan to pursue the MDC BSN once offered.
There is also strong community support from local health care organizations for the BSN program since 66% of nurses need to be prepared at the BSN level by 2010. Presently, only 26% of Florida's nurses hold BSN degrees.
In addition to more than 200 distinct associate degree and certificate programs, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing is the third baccalaureate degree program to be offered at Miami Dade College. In 2003, MDC began offering a Bachelor of Science in Education with six majors to address the critical shortage of teachers in the region and nationwide. This baccalaureate program, whose first graduates received their degrees in spring 2005, has been lauded by many leaders and organizations.
In 2006, the College began offering a Bachelor of Applied Science in Public Safety Management with ten career tracks. This upward mobility and career entry program is the only one in Florida that offers a bachelor degree together with the required law enforcement and corrections certification within one program, at one institution.Contact: Juan Mendieta, 305/237-7611; Beverly Counts Rodrigues, 305/237-3949.
Juan Mendieta, 305/237-7611; Beverly Counts Rodrigues, 305/237-3949.
